


Running Away

by liestotheheart (liesunheardof)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Mistaken Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2018-12-13 04:53:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11752434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liesunheardof/pseuds/liestotheheart
Summary: The smile softened, “You look like you had a bad day. Want to at least stay until the rain is gone?”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> sort of an idea of run away jeongan and older joshua who takes him in but doesn't know that jeonghan really isnt' homeless and that young. had ideas to maybe flesh this out but who knows

Jeonghan huddled under his hoodie, trying to sit more under the tree trying to get some coverage. He should’ve gone somewhere to get dry, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. The rain continued to come down in torrents, hitting him hard.

Shivering, he tried to bring himself to get up and go somewhere dry. Maybe even home. He heard some footsteps. It was probably a resident of the building. He heard whispers and shit earlier but none of them had called security or the cops on him so he stayed. These footsteps stopped in front of him though. Hearing a swish, Jeonghan looked up to see black, not rain.

“Are you ok?” A slightly older man, with lips that curled into a cat’s smile asked him. His eyes were a soft brown; they were warm. “Do you need a place to stay? Or to get dry?”

Jeonghan just looked up at him, blinking the water out of his lashes. Was this dude offering him a place to stay? Was he crazy? Or was he a fucking psycho?

The smile softened, “You look like you had a bad day. Want to at least stay until the rain is gone?”

Fuck everything. Jeonghan didn’t care at this point. He nodded.

“Let’s go up then.” The man walked towards the door, Jeonghan following him.

* * *

“Here,” he held out a towel for Jeonghan, “towel yourself dry a bit. I’ll run a warm bath for you.”

Jeonghan had no idea why this guy was so nice. “Thanks,” he croaked out.

“I’m Joshua,” he said, walking towards the hall way. “And you?”

“Jeonghan,” he called out to Joshua’s back, roughly toweling his hair, leaving his hoodie a wet pile in the basket Joshua put near him.

“Nice to meet you Jeonghan.”

Jeonghan had no idea what he was doing in some stranger’s apartment, and going by the pictures on the walls a well-off stranger’s apartment. He stared at some of the photos, making out a graduation ceremony, a beach front, and Joshua smiling in front of an ocean.

He startled when Joshua came back.

“The bath is running. You can get in and get warm now,” he said. That sweet smile was still on his face.

Did he think Jeonghan was some sort of stray? Or was he just that nice. It didn’t matter. Jeonghan was going to take that bath and just wait out the rain and leave. He could wallow in his own place, even if his fucking emotions would swallow him alive. “Thank you for all this,” he said, his blond purple hair plastered to his face.

Joshua shook his head. “It’s fine. Go get warm. I’ll heat up some leftovers for you and you can eat.”

Jeonghan nodded and shuffled to the bathroom, trying not to drip all over Joshua’s floors.

* * *

They ate silently, Joshua chewing slowly and humming away. Jeonghan was honestly weirded out by the man’s kindness but with the mess that his life was now he’d take it. Even if he felt paranoid as fuck.

As Joshua scraped his bowl clean, he looked at Jeonghan with a soft look, on that almost bordered on pity. “If you need a place to stay you can sleep the night. But you know,” he said quietly, “fights with your parents will happen a lot. They can be solved by talking with them. Running away isn’t the best option. Things happen to students you know. Bad things.”

Oh god. The guy thought Jeonghan was running away from his family because a disagreement. Did Jeonghan look that young?! He was freaking 21. Jeonghan opened his mouth to protest but Joshua kept talking.

“I have a friend who helps kids like you. If your family life is too messy to go back too.” Joshua slid a card across the table. Patting Jeonghan’s hand, he said. “He does a good job finding work and getting you into a shared boarding house. If you need it.” Joshua smiled encouragingly, “I’d help but I’m only a college professor and universities don’t offer the sort of jobs that high schoolers can do.”

College? Did the guy teach at Jeonghan’s university?

“If you don’t want to stay the night, I can give you taxi fare and some money to find a hostel for the night.” Joshua moved his hand to Jeonghan’s head, ruffling it warmly. “I know sometimes it’s too much to stay with weirdos like me,” he said laughing. “If you want to talk though, like vent, I’m right here. I went through a minor rebellious phase too.”

“What university?” Oh geez. Jeonghan just had to blurt out his question.

Blinking, Joshua stared at him, eyes a bit wide. “Seoul University. I teach courses in English there.”

Damn. He was teaching at Jeonghan’s school. But he could see why he’d never seen Joshua or had Joshua as a professor before. Jeonghan stayed away from the classes taught in English.

“I’d like to stay,” Jeonghan said, “if that’s all right with you?”

“You can have the guest room,” Joshua said, nodding with satisfaction. “The rain doesn’t sound like it’s letting up either. It’d be dangerous to go out and find a place to sleep tonight. Come on. I’ll take you to the room.”

* * *

Joshua woke up with a yawn. He hoped that kid was still around. It’d be sad to see another kid get into bad shit because he ran away and didn’t know what to do or where to go.

Opening the door quietly, Joshua sighed as he saw a made bed and no body sleeping. He made his way to the kitchen hoping to see Jeonghan there but there was no one. He spied a note though.

‘Thanks for letting me stay Prof. Didn’t mean to inconvencience you. I was just in a bad place yesterday. It was kind of you to let me stay and to feed me. Even offer me money for transportation and stuff. Hoepfully we’ll see each other again.’

-Jeonghan

Joshua bit his lip. Hopefully the kid wasn’t going to get into any trouble.

* * *

Jeonghan slipped into the lecture hall quietly. A quick search and Jeonghan found out what courses Joshua was teaching and when he taught them. He even found a full name. Hong Joshua, American transplant. A nice, cute man.

He settled down in to the chair. Sooner or later Joshua would recognize him sitting in the back seats. Now the question was should Jeonghan keep pretending to be young and homeless so maybe he could stay with Joshua a bit longer, or just homeless. He didn’t mind being taken care of and just getting that sort of soft love that Joshua was giving.

Well whatever he was going to decided he had to do it soon; Joshua turned around and was now staring at him.


	2. Moth to a Flame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do I know where I'm going with this? Not really.

Joshua blinked a few times, eyes wide. He jerked his head as a student called out his name. smiling, he nodded, taking their question. What was the runaway he let stay at his house doing here in his classroom? Joshua thought since he simply left this morning, he wouldn’t be seeing Jeonghan again. But there he was.

“Professor?”

“You have a question Hyunmin?” He’d have to ask questions later, he had a class to teach.

Ignoring Jeonghan who sat in the back, an enigmatic smile on his face, Joshua went back to his students.

“Remember that there’s a test next week on the last few chapters. This is my last warning to you all,” Joshua said, addressing all of his students.

They nodded, gathering their notebooks and computers, bowing to him as they left through the door. No one needed to stay behind and ask him questions thankfully. Not that he hated his students, but having Jeonghan there was mildly urgent. The kid left his place and came to see him again. Joshua couldn’t help but feel as if Jeonghan was looking for him for a special reason. But that was rather stupid of him. Maybe Jeonghan just needed a place to stay again.

Joshua looked to the last rows, blinking his eyes as he saw nothing. Jeonghan was gone. Oh dear. What if he needed help but thought he couldn’t wait that long. Joshua hoped nothing bad was happening to him.

* * *

 

“Geez,” Jeonghan groaned, pushing away Seungkwan’s hands, “I told you I just wanted to be alone. I went home.” Lie. Jeonghan went wandering in the rain and was invited into the soft professor’s home. A nice turn of events really.

“Why do you look a bit peaky then hyung?” Seungkwan eyes grew worried, “What if you get sick? That’s no good. We just started the new term too. You need to take some medicine when you get home.”

Moaning, Jeonghan shook his head. “I rarely get sick. I’m fine. And who’s the hyung here? Me or you? I can take care of myself and you guys.” He sipped at the juice he bought, wondering if Joshua looked for him. He might have. The professor was nice, too nice really. The thought of Joshua going around to look for him made a small part of him happy. That someone cared. Beyond his friends anyhow.

Seungkwan squawked. “Says the hyung who told me to stop crying about not making it into the musical last semester. It was important and you dismissed me.”

Seokmin snickered, apparently unwilling to add in his own opinions.

“I was having a bad day Seungkwannie. And your crying wasn’t helping. I can only be comforting when I’m in top condition,” Jeonghan explained, slowly as if Seungkwan was a small child.

“Some days you’re just a cold man,” Seungkwan accused, pointing at him, finger shaking. “You-you demon hyung.”

Jeonghan snorted and laughed. Well that day he was likely just not in the mood to deal with Seungkwan’s own brand of tears. But Jeonghan had to agree, slightly, that these days he was more a demon then he was an angel. Somehow, he went from nice person to just cold. Perhaps he was turning into a fallen angel.

“Aww, some days you know Jeonghan hyung is just teasing,” Seokmin said.

“Don’t try to defend him all the time,” Seungkwan said, “it won’t stop him from teasing you too.”

Seokmin shrugged. “I’m very impressionable. It’s ok if its only Jeonghan hyung. He was probably just sleepy. You know how he gets when he’s tired.”

Seungkwan paused. “True,” he mumbled. “Still,” he said, jabbing his finger in the air, “I would’ve liked it had there been more comforting.” But Seungkwan’s words fell on deaf ears.

Jeonghan had turned his head and caught in the corner of his eyes Joshua walking down the road. It was fairly crowded, yet Jeonghan managed to pick him out from the rush of students and faculty. Was he enamored?

“Hold that thought,” Jeonghan said, holding his finger up in a shushing motion. “Don’t worry if you don’t hear from me in for a couple of days,” Jeonghan warned. “I’m going for a change of scenery. See you later my cuties.”

Getting up, he strode through the crowd, ignoring the fact that they parted for him.

Lips moving silently, Seungkwan sputtered. “Hy-hyung!”

But Jeonghan was too far away to hear. And even if he did, he wasn’t sure if he would’ve turned back. He followed Joshua like a moth to a flame.

* * *

 

Joshua sighed, whirling in his chair a bit. He was having a hard time concentrating on his work; his mind too preoccupied with worrying about Jeonghan.

He could hear it now. Jihoon scoffing at him, Minghao snapping out that his bleeding heart would kill him one day. Soonyoung who would tell them not to be so mean.

Joshua knew that he was nice, almost to the point of being stupid. But he could be cold when he needed to be. There was something about the empty bleakness in Jeonghan’s eyes that called out to him though. He couldn’t help but want to help.

A knock interrupted him. “Come in!”

English. Jeonghan’s English was passable at best. But all that time spent with Seungkwan had its uses in the English department it seems. Hand closing around the knob, Jeonghan slowly pushed it iin.


End file.
